Patna, May 12: “Ho raha hai (It’s happening)”, “Sabka bayan liya jaa raha hai (the statements of people are being recorded)”, “Kar rahe hai (We are on to the job)” — that’s been the staple reply of police officers since liquor dealer Prem Kumar Singh’s mutilated body was recovered from the railway tracks near Kumhrar level crossing on Thursday.

With several theories doing the rounds, the fact that Singh’s body was recovered quite near the spot where Saket Kumar Gupta was shot dead on May 7 has raised some eyebrows.

Businessman Saket, who was the cousin of a director-general of police and had recently forayed into the liquor trade, was shot dead at Kumhrar Park while on his morning walk. The body of Prem, a veteran in liquor business, was recovered barely 700m from the park.

Sources said that Prem played a role in Saket’s killing and financed the same. To make matters worse, Saket’s wife lodged a named FIR containing Prem’s name.

Prem’s wife Neelam Devi appeared to be a scared woman. “My husband was a very good person and never indulged in anything dubious. I just fear that he will be defamed with all these versions doing the rounds. We are living under constant stress and fear,” she said.

Kumar Mangalam, a senior deputy commissioner posted in Saran district and Prem’s brother-in-law, said he and Prem had a talk on Wednesday evening during which Prem told him about the FIR.

“Prem told me that he was being implicated and they had discussed the option of consulting a lawyer. Incidentally, Prem went to Agamkuan police station for verification of his licensed weapon with the approaching civic polls. Prem was a named accused in the Saket murder case FIR lodged on May 7. The police could have detained him then and there but refrained from doing so,” a source said.

With Prem’s family members accusing the police of planning his murder, sources added that the role of a police spy in the “whole conspiracy” could not be ruled out.

Another source said: “The role of a spy is being suspected in the incident. Though the same cannot be confirmed now, the angle cannot be rejected also. The fact that Prem’s body was found at a spot very close to the spot where Saket was assassinated raises suspicions. A gateman is posted at the level crossing but even then the body was placed on the tracks. The injuries on Prem’s body were ante-mortem. There were talks of the man being tortured badly,” another source said.

Despite repeated attempts, calls to Patna senior superintendent of police Amrit Raj’s phone went unanswered.

Officers at Agamkuan police station, where both the FIRs have been lodged, kept on repeating the usual line of ongoing investigations.